McDonald's replaces humans with swipe cards and touch screens

McDonald's wants us to touch their screens to make an order and swipe our debit cards to pay!

Fast food is set to become even faster. McDonald’s has just announced it is going to introduce state-of-the-art touch-screen terminals to order food and the swipe card payment method in its 7000 restaurants in Europe.

According to McDonald’s UK President, Steve Easterbrook, this marks the first major change in the way food is ordered in restaurants in 30 or 40 years.

Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? But how new is this technology? And will it really revolutionise the way you buy fast-food?

Touch-screen technology

If you’ve ever been to Asia, you’ll know that touch-screen technology is nothing new: it’s already used in many restaurants in the Far East, and indeed this idea was inspired by a trip to Japan.

McDonald’s isn’t even the first to bring the concept to the UK - the pan-Asian restaurant Inamo in London’s Soho has been using this interactive ordering method for some years.

However, McDonald’s will be the first to make it mainstream. So hats off to them for that.

The swipe card system

Equally innovative for a fast-food chain is the idea of the swipe card system, which will allow customers to make payments by Visa credit or debit card, replacing the need for cash altogether.

Again, McDonald’s isn’t the first chain to try to do this. Vapiano, the international chain of smart pizza and pasta restaurants, also uses swipe cards, but its contactless RFID cards utilise an altogether different technology.

By contrast, you’ll be able to swipe any of the Visa credit or debit cards you have in your wallet and expect it to work at McDonald’s. So yes, McDonald’s is doing something pretty unique.

But what impact will all this technology have on McDonald’s customers? When you make your order for Big Mac and fries, what difference will it actually make?

Efficiency improvements

Often touted as ‘the next big thing’ in dining out, touch screen ordering is expected to improve efficiency, with average transactions at McDonald’s three to four seconds quicker for each customer – and as the chain serves 2 million European customers per day, that is a lot of time saving.

The new technology will also allow the company to obtain more information about its customers’ food ordering habits. Anyone alarmed by this idea should note that supermarkets and other retailers already do this via their loyalty card schemes.

McDonald’s innovations are part of wider changes at the brand, which will be redecorating its stores, opening for longer hours and introducing new menus in a bid to give its restaurants cosier, more sociable feel. It can afford to do so: in the current economic climate, when many businesses are struggling to stay afloat, McDonald’s comparable sales have increased 5.7 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter.

A good thing – or a bad thing?

The proposed technological changes have divided customers though. Some like the idea that their meals will be even quicker; but others will miss service with a smile and are worried that there won’t be enough terminals in the restaurants, leading to long queues. Others are unhappy about using cards to make payments for the small amount of money that McDonald’s meals usually cost. Many are also anxious about staff being replaced by computers at a time when jobs are already hard to come by.

However, McDonald’s dismisses fears of job losses and maintains that, due to business expansion, there’ll be an increase in overall staff numbers and that they are on target to create extra 15,000 new jobs in Europe this year.

The fast food giant hasn’t yet provided a date for introducing this technology, and neither has it announced whether these changes will eventually be introduced in non-European markets. So what does the future hold? Is the move into this brave new world a step in the right direction, or is it just change for change’s sake?

Will other restaurants follow suit? Will this change the face of fast food – and even restaurant industry as a whole? Will cashiers and waiting staff be replaced by computers? Will eating out become more impersonal – or will we always hanker after service with a smile? What’s your view about touch screen ordering at McDonald’s? Are you loving it?

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